2015 Larry H. Lemon Quality in Construction Award

In 2013, NAPA began recognizing the top general pavements constructed and submitted for a Quality in Construction Award. Dubbed the Larry H. Lemon Quality in Construction Award, the 10 highest-scoring projects submitted for a Quality in Construction Award in the General Paving (less than 50,000 tons) category are recognized for their commitment to building high-quality roads.

The award is named after Larry H. Lemon of Haskell Lemon Construction in Oklahoma City, who served faithfully on the Awards Committee for 18 years, before serving as Chairman of NAPA in 2010. Larry was instrumental in the creation of the rating system for the Quality in Construction Awards which require qualitative analysis using data and test results to determine the winners.

The 2015 winners and their projects, arranged alphabetically, are:

Barrett Paving Materials of Franklin, Ohio

Work on I-75 in Piqua, Ohio. This two-inch mill-and-fill project began in late August 2015 on a 3.8-mile busy stretch of highway. All work was completed at night between the hours of 7 p.m.–6 a.m., under a single lane closure on I-75, which runs north to south in the western part of the state.

The Brannan Sand & Gravel Co. of Denver, Colo.

Work on I-25 in Denver. The 1-mile overlay work by Brannan was part of a larger overall project by the main contractor, Hamon Infrastructure, to have the highway milled, paved, and striped over the course of one weekend. Precise scheduling and efficient work were key components in making this project successful for the weekend lane closures.

Diamond B Construction of Amite, La.

Work on LA 1064 in Hammond, La. The 4.83-mile reconstruction project consisted of three inches of surface milling followed by a soil cement treated base with a L1 binder course lift and an L1 wearing course lift. The company began the project using crumb rubber modified asphalt, but decided to switch to latex modified asphalt on a portion of the project and incorporate warm-mix technology into the design.

Garrett Paving Co. of Athens, Ga.

Work on Sonlight Baptist Church parking lot in Colbert, Ga. The aging 52,000- square-foot lot required patching and overlay, but with the Church’s budget restraints, Garrett Paving had to control costs, while providing the very best quality workmanship. The two-day job required one day of cleaning and prep work to remove old pavement that was in need of some patch work. Garrett Paving then applied a layer of 12.5mm open-graded friction course mix to a few “alligatored” areas to prevent reflective cracking, Garrett said. The second day involved overlaying a 9.5mm surface mix.

Mountain States Constructors of Albuquerque, N.M.

Work on the Coors I-40 Interchange project in Albuquerque, N.M., which consisted of reconstructing 4.5 miles of roadway that passed through one of the busiest corridors in the state.

Norris Asphalt Paving Co. of Ottumwa, Iowa

Work CR T61 in Appanoose County, Iowa, from Highway 2 to CR J3T. The existing road was in poor condition, so the company worked with the county and used a granular interlayer to help retard the reflective cracking.The 5.5-mile overlay project included widening the standard 22-foot road to 26 feet by adding two feet of hot mix asphalt base to each side. The existing concrete roadway and the base widening were overlaid with 1.5-inches of the granular interlayer. Two hot mix asphalt lifts were then placed over the granular interlayer.

Work on various roads in Sarasota County Uplands. The county was building a new park/boat ramp on Blackburn Point Road and had grand opening festivities in the works. But streets of the residential neighborhoods surrounding the new Blackburn Point Park were in great need of repair. Preferred Materials was contracted to do the 16.38 centerline lane miles of repair work on a total of 64 Sarasota county streets.

S.T. Wooten Corp. of Wilson, N.C.

Work to mill and overlay U.S. 117 and U.S. 74 in New Hanover County in North Carolina. The project was constructed at night under heavy traffic during all construction operations.

The Shelly Co., an Oldcastle Materials Co. of Thornville, Ohio

Work on CR 1 in Meigs County, Ohio, known for its winding roads and curvy hillsides. It took just shy of 40,000 tons of asphalt to overlay two courses on the 30.73-mile project.

Work on SR 183 in Waynesburg, Ohio. The company milled 1.5 inches from the 3.5-mile-long project roadway, repaired the pavement then placed a one-course overlay.